That sums up the approach taken by David Bass, the author of this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call. He decided on getting his college degree entirely through online courses because he calculated that he would save a lot of time and money that way, and interfere minimally with his journalistic work. That’s where he thought his most valuable learning would happen. His college courses, just as he had thought, did little to advance his journalistic capabilities in comparison with the all the on-the-job training he got while working as an intern and freelancing.

Going to college certainly is not the only way for a young person to accumulate knowledge and skills. For many, it is a costly, sub-optimal way of doing so.